Vehicle-tongue support.



No. 761,206; a PA'PPN-'PPD MAY a1, 1904.

c. H. CHAPMAN.

VEHICLE TONGUP SUPPORT.

APPLICATION FILED IAB.. 4, 1904.

N0 IODBL.

JMG@

No. 761,206. i

Patented May 31, 19o/1.

UNTTED STATESI PATENT OEEICE.

CHARLES H. CHAPMAN, OF KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI.

VEHICLE-TONGUE SUPPORT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 761,206, datedMay 31, 1904.

Application filed March 4, 1904.

i To a/ZZ whom it may concern:

Vro

Be it known that I, CHARLES H..CHAPMAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Kansas City, in the county of Jackson and State of Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Vehicle-Tongue Supports, of which the following is a speciication.

My invention relates to vehicle-tongue supports; and my object is to produce a device of this character by whichy the weight of the tongue is removed from the necks of the animals hitched thereto.

A further object is to produce a support of this character which is ad justible to accommodate the running-gear of diierent vehicles.

A still further object is to produce va tonguesupport which operates efficiently and reliably and which is of simple, strong, durable, and cheap construction.

To these ends the invention consists in certain novel and peculiar features of construction and combinations of parts, as hereinafter described and claimed, and in order that it may be fully understood reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a perspective view of the front l hounds and tongue of a vehicle as equipped with a tongue-support embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a cross-section on the line II II of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a horizontal section on the line III III of Fig. 2.

In the said drawings, l designates the hounds of the vehicle, and 2 the tongue, pivoted to and between the hounds, as at 8. The tonguesupport comprises a pair of bars 4 5, bridging the tongue and hounds rearward of the pivot and each provided at its outer end with a hook 6, which hooks embrace the outer and under sides of the hounds, the underlying portions of the hooksbeing provided with clamping-screws 7 carrying swiveled plates 8 at their upper ends, said plates being clamped up against v the under side of the hounds by the proper manipulation of the screws, 7. These clamping devices thus not only secure the attachment rigidly at the desired point, but also accommodate hounds of varying thickness. e The inner ends of the bars 4 and 5 are' step-jointed together at 9 and have their meeting edges transversely corrugated or toothed,

Serial No. 196,507. (No model.)

as at 10, and the upper step portion is also' longitudinally slotted or bifurcated, as at 11, so as to be longitudinally adjustable on the clamping-screw 12, which screw extends down through the underlying portion of bar 5 and engages a threaded hole 13 in plate 14,-secured rigidly to theunder side of said bar 5, the lower end of the screw being upset or riveted, as at 15, so as to prevent the withdrawal of the screw from said plate. The screw also eX- tends loosely through a yoke 16, embracing the upper side of bar 4 and the edges of said bar 4 and bar 5, as shown clearly in Fig. 1, this yoke coperating with the clamping-screw 12 in preventing independent lateral movement of the parts, as will be readily understood.

The attachment above described is slipped on the front ends of the hounds to a point rearward of the pivot 3, as hereinbefore stated, with the clamping-screw 12 withdrawn, as shown in full lines, Fig. 2, the swiveled clampplates 8 being also depressed, so that the bars may be adjusted inward or outward to accommodate the distance between the outer sides of the hounds. This adjustment being effected, the clamping-screws 7 are manipulated to clamp-plates 8 tightly against the under sides of the hounds, and then screw 12 is manipulated until it assumes the position shown in full lines, Fig. 1, and dotted lines, Fig. 2, and thus clamps bars 4 and 5 rigidly together. By this arrangement it will be seen that the front end or' the tongue can never be depressed below the desired plane, and in consequence as much of its weight as desired can be removed from the necks of the draft-animals.

From the above description it will be apparent that I have produced a tonguesupport embodying the features of advantage enumerated as desirable and which obviously may be modied in some particulars without departing from its spirit and scope or sacrificing any of its advantages.

Havingv thus described the invention, what -I claim as new, and desire to secure Vby Letters 1. A tongue-support attachment for vehicles, comprising a pair of bars longitudinally adjustable on each other and provided with hooks at their outer ends, clamps carried by said hooks, and means for clamping the bars rigidly together.

2. A tongue-support attachment for vehicles, comprising a pair ol' bars stepped t0- gether and having' their engagingsurfacescorrugated and provided at their outer ends with hooks, and means to clamp said step portions of the bars rigidly together.

3. A tongue-support attachment for vehicles, comprising a pair of bars stepped together and having their engaging surfaces corrugated and provided at their outer ends with hooks, means to clamp said step portions of the bars rigidly together, and` clamping del vices for the outer ends of said bars.

.4. Atongue-support for'vehicles, comprising a pair of bars step-jointed together and having their Ineeting faces corrugated and one of said step portions longitudinally slotted, a clamping-screw extending through said slotI and the step portion of the companion bar, land clamping devices for the outer ends of said ars.

,5. A tongue-support forlvehicles, comprising a pair of bars step-jointed together and having their meeting faces corrugated and one of said step portions longitudinally slotted, a, yoke bridging the slotted step portion and embracing the sides of thev same, and of the companion step portion, a clamping-screw eX- tendinguthrough said slot and through the step portion of the companion bar and also through said yoke, and clampingdevices for the outer ends of said bars.

6. The combination with a vehicle provided with hounds and with a tongue pivoted thereto, of a tongue-support attachment, the same comprising a pair of bars adjustably clamped together and bearing against the corresponding surfaces of the hounds and tongue, and provided at their outer ends with hooks embracing the outer sides of the hounds and at the sides opposite to said bars, and clamping devices for securing said bars rigidly to the hounds. y p l 7. The combination with a vehicle provided with hounds and with a tongue pivoted thereto, of a tongue-support attachment, the same comprising a pair of bars adjustably clamped together and bearing against the corresponding surfaces of the hounds and tongue, and provided'at their outer ends with vhooks embracing the outer sides of the hounds and at the side opposite to said bars, screws carried by said hooks, and plates swiveled on said screws and interposed between said hooks and the hounds and located at the sides of the latter opposite to the bars. v

In testimony whereof I alix my signature inthe presence of ltwo witnesses.

CHARLES H. CHAPMAN.

Witnesses:.

H. C. Konsens, G. Y. THOR'PE. 

